


The Humbling River

by Gameiplier



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Kid Fic, as best as i can, gonna be going through his life hopefully
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 05:18:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11411031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gameiplier/pseuds/Gameiplier
Summary: The life of Barry Bluejeans, seeing how he grew up, seeing those he met in his life, and so much more. What did he do during the days before IPRE? And how does he get recruited? What does he do before he's on his current mission? From childhood to where we are now, we see what he does.Or, a tale of before, and the times during the IPRE, who created it, and how this group came to know one another. No longer only about Barry, we see some of the relationships between all of them, and maybe some others as well





	1. The Twins

**Author's Note:**

> Doing a character study on one of my favorite characters, and I'm hoping to make this a regular updating fic. It'll be pretty short because I'm horrible at doing more than like 2/3k words for things but I'll damn well try.

Barry J Bluejeans was more of a quiet child, spending more time outside exploring the fields and small rivers near his home after he finished his daily learnings. He would study anything he could find or get his hands on. He stayed away from the animals he knew that could easily hurt him, he treated nature with respect, like his mother told him to.  
  
Barry was sitting down by the river, firmly planted on a smooth rock, his shoes off to his side, and his bare feet in the cold water. He would never go in, he heard once of a teen who got swept away by a current of water, never to be seen again. On his lap was a small notebook and he was sketching in it with a pencil that was over halfway gone. Anything he saw he sketched, the leaves and the trees, small animals he saw, and the fish in the river, even the rocks that looked neat to him.  
  
In the distance was other kids, shouting and having fun, laughing and playing. Oh what he would give to have another friend in this little town. But he did enjoy time to himself, the soft bubbling of the river and the soft sound of the wind moving the leaves in the trees. On the other side of the riverbed there was a small chipmunk perched on a rock. He gasps softly and dips his head closer to his paper, looking up occasionally to look at the animal as he sketched it. Barry wasn’t very good, but he could tell he was getting better in compare to when he started 6 years ago when he was 6.  
  
Over his shoulder he hears a shout from the field behind him, followed by the loud laugh of older kids. He hates that sound because he knows it’s never good. Barry usually ignores and stays away, but today he’s feeling a little more brave than usual. So he stands and climbs up the side of the bank, dirtying up his clothes even more than before. And in the field in front of him he sees a group of older kids, probably 13 or 14, standing over two elves who are seated on the ground. He tilts his head and gets a little closer. The only elves he’s seen were his teachers, he’s never seen kids before.  
  
They both looked the same, the same short hair and soft faces, some discoloration in their skin that was showing, patches of pale against their skin. Neither of them look scared though, both of them look irritated, but they’re also smirking a little bit. Like they find the situation they’re in a little bit amusing. The two stand and one of them says something, too soft for Barry to hear. And he’s too scared to get any closer, he doesn't want the others to see him. He squints to see a little better, kicking himself internally because he left his glasses at home on accident. The other elf points to a larger boy, glaring and making a face, their teeth showing, small and pointy. The boy lunges and Barry drops back down because he doesn’t want to see what ends up happening. He knows if he intervenes he will get hurt as well. He closes his eyes.  
  
After about five minutes of hearing nothing he peeks out again and sees the two sitting back down on the ground and the other boys no longer in sight. The two are grinning at each other, their arms around each other's shoulders. His natural curiosity gets the better of him and he stands to walk slowly over to the other two. He can’t think of anything good to say, so the first thing out of his mouth is a shaking.  
“I thought they were going to hurt you, they’re not fond of newcomers.” He knew he was stuttering, he blushes and fiddles with the hem of his slightly torn shirt.  
  
The two look up at him and god. Are they so much more similar up close. He knew elves were pretty, but these two were so much more. Sharp and soft features mixing together, slightly messy makeup on kids too young to really know how to use it yet. Lazy smirks on teen who don’t care.  
  
“Oh please we’re perfectly able to handle ourselves.” The one on the left says.  
  
“We’ve been doing it for quite a long time, after all.” The one on the right says. They both look him over and then look at each other, grinning.  
  
“What’s your name ol buddy ol pal?” The one on the left says.  
  
“Uh… Barry..” The one on the right grins.  
  
“Well nice to meet ya, Barold.” They stand and their twin follows, rolling their eyes, before saying.  
  
“Be nice to him Taako!” They scold, turning to grin at him. “Sorry for my little bro-”  
  
“I’m 5 minutes younger than you!” This… Taako, squeaks.  
  
“I’m Lup.” She smiles and holds out her hand for a handshake. He reaches out as well, watching his own hand shake a bit. They shake hands and while he’s preoccupied he feels his sketchbook slip from his back pocket and he sees Taako with it in his hands, already open as he looks through it. Lup giggles and makes a smug face and goes over to her brother to look at it as well.  
  
“Hey! Why did you do that!” He quickly walks over and tries to grab it, but the elves are faster than him, almost dancing backwards, still looking at his book.  
  
“Oooo, this is adorable.” He hears a rip and feels his shoulders drop and sees a page of it get torn out. On it is the chipmunk he just drew. Lup… Or maybe Taako.. He can’t tell the difference yet, has torn out the page and was smiling softly at it. Barry huffs softly and reaches out for it but the twin with the art jumps back and sticks their tongue out at him.  
  
“That was rude.” He says, voice wavering. The two of them shrug and one walks over with his notebook, handing it over to him.  
  
“We won’t look at anything else, just wanted to see what you would do, if you were like those others.” Barry shakes his head and clutches the book to his chest and narrows his eyes at the two.  
  
“Who are you two?” He’s confused because he’s never met anyone like them before in his life, he was used to the locals he knew, how they acted, and no one acted like these two.  
  
“We’re but simple traveling elves! Nothing more.” The other hangs off their twins shoulders, grinning wide.  
  
“Is there a way I can manage to tell the two of you apart?” His eyes move back and forth between the two's faces, he could see a few different things. One's nose was a little more round than the other, one had a little more pudge on them than the other, but they were both similar enough that he still couldn’t tell the difference. They were still both pretty and he felt bad for confusing them.  
  
The one with a bit more softness to them, hanging off the other grins wide, a small gap between their front two teeth speaks, pointing at themselves.  
  
“I’m Taako, my sister Lup is the one with this.” He points to Lup, pointing to a small mole under one of her eyes, and lo and behold, the other twin doesn’t have that. He nods, thinking he could easily tell the difference. Taako took his book, Lup tore out the sketch yet still gave it back. “Is that good enough?” Taako asks, cocking his head.  
  
“I think so.” Barry whispers and smiles that them both. He kept his words short and neat, so he wouldn’t stutter and break up his words. These two obviously were very independent, they knew how to live alone, with only each other as their comforts. Barry kind of wishes he was that brave. But he wasn’t. But he still got by.  
  
The two make their way over to him and pull him down, sitting in between them both. He felt his face get warm. He wasn’t used to be handled this much by people other than his mother, who was the only person he was really comfortable with touching him. But these two, they were something else, two types of people he has never met before and instantly felt some sort of bond towards.  
  
The three of them and sit and talk for hours, Barry shows them his art, and draws them, labeling each different thing about the two so maybe down the line he can remember their differences. Because he really has the feeling that he won’t be seeing these two ever again in a few days. The way these twins spoke was incredible, at times finishing each other's sentences, and grinning when another said something in Elvish. Maybe he should learn it.  
  
Barry tells them of his mother, of how his father died when he was young, so he never knew him. He often wondered what his father was like, how he and his mother interacted with one another, how much they loved one another. Would he have that one day? What’s it feel like? Right now the only thing he feels is content and happy. Barry likes being around these two, learning what they’re like and how they’ve been alone on and off since they were kids. Yeah they had an aunt to go back to, but all they needed were each other. That’s what they said. Barry doesn't think he could do it, be without his family, even if it was his mother. If he had a twin, could he do this? Or were these two elves just something extraordinary. Surly to him they were.  
  
He sketched each of them and labeled their names on each piece of paper, ripped them out of his notebook and handed them over. Along with each sketch he added a smaller head of an animal. For Lup it was a small phoenix, for Taako it was a mongoose head. The two asked why these animals, Barry simply shrugged, it only seemed fitting for these two.  
  
After that he packs up his things and stands, saying a goodbye to each of them, saying that his mother would be expecting him home for dinner any minute. Barry asks them both if they would like to come with him, have a good meal in a clean home. To his surprise, they agree. So they follow Barry home, their arms intertwined together. Barry could tell these two couldn’t do anything without each other. He wondered what that feeling felt like.  
  
When he brings them into his home, his mother is welcoming, as usual with all guests. She’s probably just happy that her son probably found a couple of new friends, and she’s always happy to feed those who are hungry. She says something about them being too thin, she pinches their cheeks and sits them down at the table, serving them first. The two of them are all polite smiles and charming words, but they do eat quickly, like they haven't had anything that good in a few days. It’s a simple stew, nothing special, but these two think it’s the best thing they’ve ever had.  
  
Taako asks for the recipe, his mother writes it down in her neat small handwriting and hands it to the lad. He stuffs it in a small leather bag and beams at Barry’s mother, thanking her. Barry can tell his mother loves the two, loves their sarcasm, and their boldness for being young. Although Barry can’t tell how old they really are. Elf ages are strange to him, they just live so damn long.  
  
It’s nearly dark by the time the two leave, both Barry and his mother try to convince them to stay for the night at least, but they simply shake their heads, thank them both for the meal, and head out. Lup gives his mother a hug, and to his surprise, him as well. Taako hugs his mom and pinches his cheek softly. He stands dumbfounded for a few moments after they both leave. Still not used to their open affection. It was… Well it was nice, welcoming. Something he could get used to. But he can tell as he watches those two mysterious strangers walk out the door, he knows he won’t ever see them again.  
  
Or will he? 


	2. The Protector

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry meets a lot of people during one summer, seven people that really seem to change his life for the better, and deep down he can feel that those people will be something important later on in life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic name change to something a little more original because I liked it more. Title comes from the song by Puscifer, which is a very good IPRE song.

Fifteen year old Barry Bluejeans was a mess, he hadn’t changed much in terms of what he did. Now while doing his schoolings like his mother wanted, after he finished the day he would go to the local shop to put in as many hours as he could. While his mother and he weren’t poor, they weren’t well off either. She was slowly getting less and less able to work long hours like she used to, and he knew that he had to do something. Luckily the local shopkeep knew him and liked him enough to let him work at her shop for good pay, knowing how his mother was doing. 

 

The work was easy enough, stocking and helping customers. This shop saw a lot of non locals, so he got to see many different people. There was one day where he thought he saw those same Elven twins from what seemed like ages ago, and had to do a double take. They weren’t even twins. He thought of those two often, couldn’t realize why. A crush on one of them? Some strange fascination? Barry still wondered if Lup had the drawing he did that she took, or the drawings he did of each of them individually. Probably not…

 

But there were so many more people he met during the times he worked. When it was late the people were even more different. There was once a sorcerer that came through who made his love of science seem to grow even more. Most he met around him were ones who only relied on magic, who didn’t see much of a need for science to move the world forward. But there was something about this man that made him love science even more, the way he spoke, of a city up north that had all sorts of advancements. 

 

He probably had a bit of a crush on the man as well, so did others in the town as well, when he passed through. The sorcerer was tall and handsome, older looking than he seemed to be, but utterly beautiful. Two things Barry looked for. Plus he was sharp as a tack, sarcastic and not too stuffy like men his age seemed to be.

 

Barry got crushes easily. That he knew very well. The teen wasn’t picky when it came to people he got crushes on, locals less so than people passing through. But no one seemed to like this shy bookish recluse. He was much too young for this sorcerer. There was a pretty girl, a year older than him that passed through one day, picking up supplies for her parents. He blushed when he talked to her, she did a little as well. Barry tried to flirt, but found out he wasn’t the best at it. At least he tried. He did get a kiss with her behind the store when he was around back picking up a sack of grain to take to their cart. Barry was red for the rest of the day. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  
  


There was a group passing through one day, six of them. They were in town for two weeks and he admits to spying on them a bit. He was caught at one point. That same sorcerer with them as well. They seemed like an odd crew to be together, these two posh men who seemed to flirt happily with one another, the others rolling their eyes at them each time. The posh tiefling spoke and preached of his god Hercules openly and happily, and people stopped to listen, whether they were declared or not. One rolled her eyes at that, sneering at any talk of gods, but whenever she did, she also seemed to side eye the one who seemed to be leading them whenever that happened. But to him they seemed like a family, people who knew how each other worked and loved each other despite their differences. 

 

They found him once listening to their leader complaining about other lords on the console he was apart of. A lord! How incredible! But they invited him over to listen. The lord complained about how the others weren’t interested in science like he was, how he knew it would move them forward in the world, how there’s so many more opportunities to apply magic and science together. Barry was only 15 but interjected with his own opinions as much as he could, and they seemed to enjoy his talk, encouraged him even. 

 

But one thing he also found out about this group was how close they were, how they’ve known each other for about two and a half years and seemed so much like a family. He found out the lord and the posh one, well… they were both posh honestly. Christopher and Basil, we’re cheesy lovers, new from what he saw, but apparently not according to the rest of the group. They just really loved each other. Barry saw that and instantly wanted something like that for himself. 

 

Rikki he found out was not fond of religion and loved to pick fights, told a story of the first time she met Christopher that she attacked him, didn’t get much done to him, but still did it. Fae and Kiris were two he liked the most, tricksters and minor thieves. Didn’t really take much from shops, picking out people they knew weren’t good and stole things from them, making games out of them eventually, to see who could do the most. Raika was quiet and sweet, but watched everyone with a sharp eye, had a cool prosthetic arm that she let him study and sketch when she found out he kept looking at it. He was embarrassed at that, he didn’t want to see rude.  

 

This was a group he loved, a type of group he would want to be apart of one day, they cared for one another and still could tease one another and have fun. He wanted a friendship like they had and a love like Chris and Basil did. He watched the way they were with one another a lot, how they talked in hushed voices to one another at night, how Basil bitched about sleeping in a tent, how Chris promised him a nice place in the next city. How they kissed with no shame and full of love. How they both wore rings on their fingers and how he saw Christopher kiss it one day with a sad smile…. He wondered what that was about. 

 

But he knew that that was something he made it his duty to get, a group who loved him like they loved each other, that would be a group of people Barry would think about constantly after they were gone, weeks and months after they left, he still thought of the plans they made to make science more prominent in the world. One day Barry hoped he could be apart of that. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

It’s a good six months after that group he meets Magnus, tall and broad for a teenager, looking older than 16. Handsome as all hell honestly. His family and him were in town for something or another, Barry never really paid attention to the ongoings in town. All he really knew after the first couple of days is that there was a really good looking teenager visiting and everyone who liked anyone was talking about them. When Barry finally got some time off of work and after taking care of his mother who had come down with a slight cold. It was a little bit of a trek to the local fair that happened about half a mile outside of the town, and this was probably the third time in his life that he had been there, and it was pretty much the same, but still pretty fun. Great food that wasn’t good for you. It was a lot of exhibitors, selling homemade things and food. Which he might go through and get something for his mother at the end of the day. 

 

He came across one exhibitor where he knew it was the teen the others in town were talking about. There was a crowd of people around the stall, both buying things and talking to the owners and there on the side, with some people talking to him was a teenager who looked like he was actually in his early 20’s. He was tall, broad shouldered, and barrel chested with a bit of softness on him. But oh boy, were the others from town right, he was a handsome man. Messy wavy hair down to his shoulders and bright green eyes standing out against brown skin, freckles dusting his face. Barry felt his heart thump in his chest loudly and his face warm up. He brushed it off as the heat of the day and kept walking so he didn’t seem too out of place. 

 

Barry got something to eat after walking around another lap and sat down under a tree near the little fair. He pulls his knees up to his chest and pulls out his sketchbook as he eats his sweet snack slowly. He goes back to a sketch of the group that passed through months ago, one day he wanted to get some bigger paper to do a bigger piece of these people who ended up inspiring him so much. 

 

He was so into his sketching that he didn’t notice another person sitting down next to him for a moment until he spoke. 

 

“Who’re they?” Comes the voice from his right. And it makes Barry jump, the voice is deep, but happy. Barry looks up and sees that same teenager from before and his eyes go wide. His head is cocked and he looks like a giant puppy. 

 

“Uhh…” He looks down at his art and back to the teen. “A group that came through a few months ago that…. That really inspired me.” He nods and Barry shifts awkwardly, gosh he was always so nervous. 

 

“It looks really good! I’m Magnus by the way, Magnus Burnsides!” He sticks out his hand and Barry is still polite to take it and shake it. 

 

“Barry Blujeans…” Magnus laughs and points at Barry’s jeans. 

 

“It suits you!” But he’s not making fun of Barry, he’s smiling wide and is simply joking. Barry grins and chuckles, pointing to the fluffy sideburns growing in on Magnus’ face.

 

“I’d say the same to you.” The two of them have a good laugh and Barry leans back against the tree, following his lead, Magnus does the same. 

 

“What are you doing here anyways? You’re not a local.” Barry says, looking over at Magnus. 

 

“Family wants to sell some more products and we heard that here’s a good place to do that! And they were right because we’re selling stuff so fast that we’ll totally be sold out by the end of the weekend.” Barry nods and smiles.

 

“Yeah, this place is only popular this time of the year because of this fair, it’s also nice to see all the new types of people coming here,” He nudges Magnus’ side with his elbow. “You seem to have got a decent sized crowd following you around, you could have talked to anyone, yet you’re here talking to little old me.” Magnus looks back at the fair then kind of slumps down a little bit, shrugging. 

 

“Wanted to get away from everyone for a little bit, crowds are okay but that was getting a little overwhelming and out here seemed like a nice break from everything. Plus you looked like someone who could easily be pretty easy to be around.” Magnus smiles at Barry. Barry feels his cheeks flare up.

 

“I’m just quiet is all. I like the things I do by myself, I like my books, my art, and my studying. I take care of my mom and I work. I have what I do and I like to stick to it.” 

 

“Good plan honestly. I just do my day to day things as is and see how things go. Maybe I should have a schedule.” Magnus taps his chin and then shrugs and makes a face, chuckling a bit. “Don’t think I could do that actually.” 

 

“You don’t seem the type to go on a schedule unless you were made to.” Barry says and sets down his sketchbook, turning so he’s facing Magnus more. 

 

“Oh not at all! I love just doing different things to see what the day has in store for me! I’ll just figure out things as they go.” Magnus looks down at the sketchbook and then back at Barry. “Could I have a look at your stuff?” He asks, cocking his head.

 

“Oh…” He thinks for a moment, trying to think what he has in there and if he’s okay with anyone else seeing it. “Yeah sure go ahead.” He hands over the book, it’s thick and he’s going to have to get a new one sooner or later. He doesn't have much room in it anymore. 

 

Magnus mostly flips through it, looking at random pages, not all of them. He stops for a moment on a newer one he did of Taako and Lup, trying to imagine what they look like now. They’re obviously older than him, being elves and all that, but they looked his age when they met, so he tried to age them up. 

 

“These two look familiar, feel like I’ve seen them before.” 

 

“Might have, they travel a lot more than anything. Met them a few years ago and while they took a sketch of mine, they were really nice to me. Different, but… nice.” He smiles thinking back to that day. 

 

“Hm, probably have seen them, but I see so many people passing through where I live that it’s hard to keep track of everyone!” Barry chuckles and shakes his head, smiling softly.

 

“Oh I’m sure you would remember these two. They’re quite memorable, sneaky and all snark, pretty good people if you get to know them honestly.” Magnus is silent as he looks through the rest of the sketchbook, recently he’s done more animals than people, but now as he watches Magnus look through his book. He wants to draw this man, to study his features more and talk to him more. 

 

“Could I… Could I sketch you?” Barry asks softly, fiddling with his hands in his lap. Magnus looks up to him and grins, nose scrunching up a little bit. 

 

“Sure! I’d love for you to!” He hands the book back to Barry and Barry flips through it to find a clean page or spot. When he finally does, he gets to sketching Magnus. 

 

The two of them sit in silence for a good hour and a half, taking breaks to talk as well as Barry sketches, his voice soft when he responds to whatever Magnus asks. It’s comforting, a nice feeling. A little different than the feeling he had with Lup and Taako, but something almost the same. 

 

Magnus eventually has to leave, to go back to his parents and to help pack up for the evening. Magnus comes back to him as he’s walking away from the fair, handing him a jar of honey, the kind with the comb still in the jar, as well as a new sketchbook, thick, bound with leather. The quality of it is so much better than his old one. 

 

“You don’t have to do this.” Barry says, hands shaking a bit as Magnus pushes the two items into his hand. 

 

“Sure I didn’t, but I wanted to! The honey is from my mother, and the book is from me, figured you needed a new one, considering how long it took you to find a page earlier.” Barry chuckles and nods, looking up at Magnus. 

 

“I suppose you’re right.” 

 

“Yup!” Magnus pats Barry on the shoulder and turns, taking off back to his parents. 

 

Barry walks slowly back home and makes his mother a cup of tea with the honey he was given and sketches Magnus again on the first page of his book. On the second he sketches out more detailed designs of Taako, Lup, and Magnus. This’ll be a page for the people he meets that are like that. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Barry Bluejeans meets a lot of people who come through town, as time goes on, this small town becomes more and more popular during the fair time. Ways of transportation are becoming more and more advanced due to science. Airships that carry commoners, ones that aren’t just for the rich, start to set sail. They’re faster and safer than sea ships and sometimes even bigger.

 

As times goes on, he finds out the tyranny of lords in a city in the north, planning the death of a well known sorcerer. They were tried and convicted, sentenced to death. 

 

The new console is of people of like mind of the last royal, the one he met who passed through town with his partner and his family. He keeps up to date on the things that advance, watches as science also helps things medically, and how putting magic and science together can easily make things easier for everyone. 

 

How there’s a new dawn coming, a new leap in tech coming into view of people less fortunate. Things that only the rich could afford being mass produced for anyone to have. 

 

But there is something that Barry finds, that Barry learns that is coming into the world within a few years. He gets a letter in the mail that has no sender, no name other than. ‘A friend.’ 

 

This letter states that within the next few years, there’s going to be a new Institute built in a city oh so far away from him, that’s based around science and the study of the other planes in their existence. How he could be kept updated on this institute and maybe after some time he himself could be welcomed into it as well. But. That was pretty far off. 

 

A year later he finds a flyer, advertising for experienced wizards and other folk, to join a new institute exploring what the other planes in their system are like, what they do, and how they work. 

 

This institute? The Institute of Planar Research and Development. IPRE. Barry made this another goal, to get into this institute as soon as he knew he was good enough. 

 

And he would be good enough, dammit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The group of six at one point in the fic is actually a little shout out to my one dnd group, y'all know who you are and I love you all. 
> 
> But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, this is honestly my favorite out of the two, and if anyone has any requests as to what I should put in in following chapters, send me a message on tumblr @LitchBarry and I'll see if I can do it!


	3. The Lonely Journal Keeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traveling to a new place can be scary, but meeting a new friend along the way can always help out in the long run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might seem like that Barry/Lucretia is hinted but I promise you it's not. I just wanted to do a little twist on how they would interact and I kind of fell into a thing how I'm friends with some of my own friends. Platonic love is important and I wanted to get into that with the two of them. 
> 
> Because we don't know much about the world everyone came from, I indulged myself a bit and worked my DnD world into it because it's... Very much like what I think their would would be like. Very science forward, but also magic heavy.

A few weeks after Barry turned 18 he traveled to the city of Helimire, it was a long trip, farther than he’s ever gone before. It was in another country compared to his own, but only a half a month away by ship. It was in the country of Espeyra, the largest city in the largest country. And the largest city in their known world. He had heard tales of the city before, how it gave the chance for new opportunities, and while he was only going to visit and get supplies for his sick mother, he secretly hoped something else would come of the trip. 

 

He went by water, instead of air. Airships were advanced, but cost more than a ship for the water. Barry found out on the first day that he wasn’t meant for sea travel, the rocking of the ship made him sick and he found himself over the side of the ship more than once in the first six hours. 

 

Barry was lonely on the ship, most people kept to themselves and their families. But there was a woman, only a couple years older than him that caught his attention. She held a journal on her lap and a pen in one of her hands. Every once in awhile she would look up and around at the various people milling about and would look down and write for a bit. She seemed invested in her journals so Barry left her alone, for the first week anyways. Then she sought him out. 

 

Barry was sitting on the back of the deck, sketchbook out and a few books of science scattered around him. He was looking in the air out the back of the ship, at the young dragons flying a distance off. He sketched them, pages and pages of his book were filled with sketches of these creatures. This was the first time that Barry had ever seen them in his life outside of books. They were magnificent. 

 

He didn’t notice the woman coming up from his side, his eyes still focused on one golden dragon soaring a little closer than the others. At this distance he could see its scales, as bright as the sun and probably one was worth more than he’s ever seen in his life. 

 

“Incredible creatures aren’t they.” Barry looks to his side, and is awestruck. The woman beginning to kneel down next to him was beautiful, smooth dark skin, bright eyes, and white hair. For a moment she looked away from the dragons and smiled at Barry. He returned it readily. 

 

“They’re the best things I’ve seen in a long time.” 

 

“I’m guessing this is your first time on a ship, let alone seeing a creature like that?” She asks, making herself comfortable on the edge of the blanket he was sitting on.  

 

“You’re very right. And outside of novels, I’ve never seen a dragon, and I am completely awestruck. They’re beautiful creatures.” 

 

“That they are.” She holds out her hand to him and he takes it, shaking it. “I’m Lucretia.” 

 

“Barry.” Is his response. “Could I ask you something?” He questions, tilting his head.

 

“Of course.” 

 

“You seem to know a lot more about dragons than I do, and all the books I’ve read on them have said pretty much the same thing. But was it true that they were once being hunted down?” Lucretia chuckles and leans back, hands wrapping around her knees. 

 

“That is true, but it was only about one hundred years ago that it became law that you couldn’t Of course there are still people who do, but they’re horrible people. Dragons only wanted to be equal to the rest of us, and people realized that they could, well some of them, could turn into a human. There’s one that rules a kingdom in another country who is very well respected.” 

 

“Who made it law?” This information wasn’t in his books, so he listened closely.

 

“No one really knows, but some say that the goddess, The Raven Queen herself, came down and spread the word to a few higher ups, in disguise of course. But apparently there was one man who she came clean to, who knows it was her, but no one knows who that is.” 

 

“That….” His eyebrows furrow and he looks out to sea again at the dragons. “That seems like a fairytale.” Lucretia chuckles. 

 

“It sure does, but you know how the world is with things like this, they need something farfetched to believe.” 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Not three days later the two of them first spoke, they had spoken to each other on a day to day basis, talking of science and the rest of the world. Lucretia was well traveled and he wanted to hear everything. She read out of her journals she carried with her and he was in awe of how the rest of the world was outside of his small village. 

 

It was on the fourth day that a storm rolled in, the dragon's departure was the first clue, the dark clouds rolling quickly in was the second. The rain came not hours later, making the deck of the ship slick and almost unable to walk on. The crew rushed others down under the ship to their quarters, somewhere a little more safe. But as nice as the ship was, there were still leaks, water still got in and made it damp. 

 

Barry and Lucretia were in her room, Barry was sitting against the bed, Lucretia on it. His eyes were closed and his knees were pulled up against his chest. He hadn’t been in a storm this bad in his life, apparently out on the ocean it was ten times worse than on land. The thunder was loud and almost shook the boat as bad as the giant waves. The lightning threatened to hit the ship and make it catch fire. All these things were running through his head and this was the most scared he had been in many years. Lucretia whispered to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him onto the bed next to her. Barry could feel her shaking a bit as well and wrapped his arms around her, just as she did the same to him. When the air grew colder, they knew it was night, and they pulled the blankets around themselves, still huddled close to one another as the storm raged on. 

 

They both managed to sleep, but it was light and bad. They curled up with one another, close and a little more warm than before. While they hadn’t known each other very long, they held each other like old friends, fearing that neither would see morning. Barry woke a few times turning their sleep, walked into the hall and asked a crewmember how things were looking up top. Grim was the only response he received.

 

The storm raged for two and a half days and when it was finally over Barry was overcome with sickness. He had slept in his own bed for the night and woke up hardly able to move, a thin sheet of sweat coated his body and he had the worst fever he ever had in his life. He curled on his side and shook, he felt freezing but knew he was as hot as an oven. 

 

After a short nap that seemed to make him feel worse, he heard his door open slowly. When he moved all he did was ache, and in the entrance to his cabin he saw Lucretia, a bucket and cloth in one hand and a small plate with a bowl of thin soup in the other. 

 

“I came by earlier and saw that you weren’t doing too well.” She sets down the soup on a table next to his bed and sits on the edge of it, dipping the rag in chilled water and laid it over Barry’s forehead.  He winced at the feeling and looked up at her. 

 

“You don’t have to do this.” Barry whispers hoarsely. 

 

“I don’t, but I’m going to.” She says sternly, picking up the bowl in hand. “Now. Try to eat at least a little bit. It’s watered down so you might be able to keep it down a little better.” The man sits up as best as he can, without letting the cloth fall from his forehead and moves to take the spoon from her. She shakes her head and dips the spoon into the bowl, moving it to his mouth. 

 

It makes him feel a little like a child honestly, being fed by someone else. But he knew better because just sitting up made him dizzy and even more weak. Now he knew what his mother felt like when she was bedridden like this, but honestly, she probably felt worse. 

 

“You’re too kind to someone you’ve only known only a little under two weeks.” 

 

“We’re the only two on here as smart as we are, we need to stick together.” The two of them chuckle and that makes Barry cough, doubling over and wincing. 

 

“Oh Barry.” He hears Lucretia and he feels her hands on his back, pushing up his shirt and pushing it over his head. He feels his entire face go hot for another reason as she takes the cloth and wets it again, pressing it fully against his back. Barry sighs and relaxes a bit, the cold water feeling like heaven on his back. He wrapped his arms around his middle, trying to hide himself a bit. He wasn’t the most confident about his looks, trying to get by on his brain more than anything else. Lucretia hardly paid attention to him in that manner, working on getting him comfortable. She pushed on his shoulder so he was laying flat again, he looked at her, slightly embarrassed. 

 

“Oh now don’t look like that.” She scolds softly. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” Barry lays his hands over his stomach and closes his eyes as she puts another cloth over his forehead again. As he’s drifting off into a more comfortable sleep, she presses a kiss to the bride of his nose and smiles. “You better wake up in a few hours my friend, wouldn’t want to lose you.” 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  
  


And he did wake, a day and a half later. 

 

Lucretia was sitting in the most uncomfortable chair in the corner of his cabin, head tilted back, her mouth partially open. When he moved, groaned, and gasped she was awake and looking at him. He wasn’t as bad as he was a few days ago, he was mostly just achy now. His movements were still slow but he was so happy that his fever had broke and he was awake. Lucretia is sitting on his bed not a second later. She chuckles, eyes watery, a hand on his cheek. 

 

“I said a few hours my friend, not a day and a half later.” 

 

“Sorry. I’ll remember that next time.” He rasps, coughing softly. He smiles up at her, lazily. Lucretia laughs and kisses his forehead, pulling the blanket up over his chest, up to Barry’s neck.

 

“There better not be a next time.” She scolds. Barry holds onto the blanket and sits up, feeling the bones in his back pop a bit. 

 

“Thank you… For staying with me.” He whispers, looking down. 

 

“You’re my friend Barry, I couldn’t bear to see anything bad happen to you.” His face contorts into a look of confusion. He’s never had a friend like this before, and they’ve only known each other for a few days. Back home if he had another female friend like her, all the others in town would be asking if he had been with her, he couldn’t even think of being with Lucretia like that. If he finally felt like he had a friend for the first time in his life. 

 

“Thank you.” He whispers softly and looks up at her. She laughs a bit and shakes her head.

 

“You don’t have to thank me for being your friend Barry. I like you, we have interesting conversations and you are easy to be around, you listen to me when I go on one of my rants about something I like and you are generally interested in said things.You enjoy science more than anyone I have ever met in my life and I adore you as a friend.” Barry grins and blushes, wrapping his arms around her in a big hug. She laughs, loud and bright, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight. 

 

Barry pulls her back onto the bed so that they’re both lying down and they cuddle close to one another. So this is what it was like? To have a friend who actually liked you, not because you lived in the same town and there wasn’t really anyone else? Someone you could confide in and talk to on the same level? It was utter perfection. 

 

She kissed under his eye and started to doze, he couldn’t do that even if he wanted to, having slept for a day and a half made him more awake than ever, but he was still too weak to actually get up and be able to do anything. So he just closed his eyes and thought of what he was going to do when the ship finally docked in Helimire. He wrapped his arms around Lucretia’s shoulders and sighed softly, it was only a matter of a few days until they arrived. Until then, he would think and recover.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

The docked in Helimire a day later than planned due to the storm. But when Lucretia pulled him out from under the ship and onto the deck and out onto the front. He was blinded for a moment because of the midmorning sun and when he could see again. The sight almost brought him to tears. 

 

Helimire was a beautiful city, the most advanced in the world. In the middle was a towering building that was mostly made of beautiful bronze and stone. This was where the council members met and meetings were held. Almost like the community center where he lived…. But almost 5 times the size, maybe even more. That’s where he would visit first. He feels a hand under his chin, closing his mouth with a sharp click from his teeth. 

 

“You’ll catch flies if you keep that up.” Lucretia says, chuckling softly. 

 

“Sorry. It’s just all so beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” 

 

“I can show you around if you like? Start out with the capitol building.” 

 

“Oh please.” He looks at her with wide eyes, bright with happiness. After an hour they’re walking off the ship with their things, Barry’s arm looped through Lucretia’s. Throughout the city as they walk, Lucretia has to pull on Barry’s arm because he stops in the middle of a busy street to look around and he mumbles an apology before following along. It takes them nearly another hour to get to the capitol before coming up upon the large iron gates that surround it. The gates are open and people are coming in and out of the building, it seems to be mostly tourists, but a few locals as well. 

 

The inside is the most beautiful thing Barry has ever seen, clean marble and beautiful tapestries. There was art on each wall and it was almost like a museum as well as a capital.

 

“Who watches over this place?” He whispers, eyes wide. 

 

“There’s a few different caretakers, but one of the members of the council also looks over it. He seems to love this place more than anything. Oh!” She perks up and points to a person standing on a balcony looking over the small crowd of people milling about. He was smiling softly. “There he is now.” Barry looks up and gasps softly. Oh he knew that face, remembers the scar over the man's left eye and the grey hair. 

 

He was dressed in fancy clothes, purple earrings hanging from his ears and a few rings on his fingers. Barry looked where the man was looking and saw a little girl, no older than 3, running up the stairs to the man. A small tiefling girl, hair as dark as the night, golden eyes and golden bronze skin, running up to him and jumping into his arms. 

 

“You look at Lord Christopher like you know him.” 

 

“I do. I met him years ago. He made my love for science grow even more, if that was somehow possible.” 

 

“That’s incredible.” Lucretia looks at him, eyes wide. “You met his husband and his… odd family as well yes?” 

 

“I did, they were incredible. A family that was imperfect but also perfect.” He looks up at him again and sees the Lord’s husband now next to him, pinching the little ones cheek. Lord Basil now probably. And the blue haired tiefling looks around the crowed and his eyes land on Barry, eyes sparking with remembrance. He simply grins, grabs Christopher by the arm, whispers into his ear and the two walk off. Barry hears Lucretia chuckle.

 

“Looks like he remembered you a bit.” 

 

“...I hope so…” He whispers.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

The two of them walk through the capitol for two hours and then stopped by a vendor to get food. They sit down and eat, Lucretia telling Barry the history of the city and the people in it. Telling how the head of the council, Lord Christopher, had nearly been murdered by the others previous and his little odd family had helped him get something of his back, and now he pretty much ruled over the city with a peaceful hand. 

 

After an hour of the two sitting and chatting, two half elves bound up to them, smiling. Barry recognizes them instantly and smiles. 

 

“Hello again, Barry.” 

 

“It’s been awhile, good to see you two again.” He shakes their hands and stands. 

 

“You as well!” Fae says, then grabs his arm gently. “Lord Christopher wants to see you both, if you wanna come?” Lucretia perks up and rushes over, smiling wide. 

 

“Oh really?” She says, surprised. “If he’ll have us.” 

 

“Oh totally!” The two take them both through the halls, someone grabbing their bags and taking them with them. It’s a little bit of  walk, but of course it is, the place is huge. When they finally walk through two large doors into a large sitting room, there in the center is Lord Basil holding the same little girl above his head, making a face at her. Lord Christopher is smiling at them both, leaning heavily on his cane. A new addition to the fancy clothing the Lord wears is a pendant around his neck with the symbol of the Raven Queen on it. It looks old, but well taken care of. 

 

Christopher looks up at them when they walk in and claps his hands together and smiles. 

 

“Ah, finally! I’ve been waiting for you two to get here.” Kiris rolls his eyes and speaks up.

 

“Not all of us can get around as fast as you, even with your bad leg.” It’s a small jab and Christopher laughs at him. 

 

“Fair, fair. Now go, take Claudia with you, I want to speak with these two for a bit alone. Basil.” The older man looks at Basil and and he puts his daughter on his shoulders, kisses Christopher’s cheek and makes his way out with Fae and Kiris. Once gone, Christopher nods to two chairs on the other side of a desk, sitting down behind it in another chair.

 

As soon as the two are sitting, he speaks. 

 

“The two of you… are incredibly gifted in your knowledge of the world, especially you Barry, when you haven’t even traveled outside your home village until now.” He looks at Lucretia. “Lucretia your knowledge of the world is vast and utterly mind boggling. You write everything down and keep your journals close, your attention to detail is flawless and you are such a bright young woman and I can see you going so far in life.” 

 

He waves his hand and a tea set appears on the table and he pours some for the three of them. 

 

“Barry your curiosity of the world you have never seen is inspiring. And I have a question for the two of you that the answer might not see the light of day for a very long time, but I wish for you two to be the first outsiders to know of it, and not to speak of it, as I am not sure if this plan will become a reality in the time I am alive or not. Do you to promise to keep this to yourselves.” He’s pointing a stern finger at the two of them, eyebrows raised. 

 

“Of course.” Is their answer, in unison. 

 

“Good.” He stands and walks over to a table, a cloth over it. He pulls it off and grabs a circular patch, lifting it up to the two of them to see. Circles of color are around the edges and in the center are the letters IPRE. 

 

“The letters stand for the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration, I wish to start it up before my life in this world comes to an end.”

 

Lucretia gasps softly and covers her mouth with her hands. 

 

“You wish to research and try to explore the planes of this world.” That was obvious, but Barry knew she was trying to get more information out of him. 

 

“Exactly.” He walks over to the table and sits back down again, sitting the patch down in front of the two. It was crude and probably only a first draft. But it got the job done. “I want to find out what is out there, but not just in the other planes, oh no. We already know about them decently enough. But what about the other worlds, how they’re different and if the planes that are apart of those realities are either the same or different. Now we’re only in the first stages of planning and I am already loving what I am creating. But one day we will have other people with a love of magic and science to study these things as well. They’ll go through a little training and schooling to get through and be initiated.” 

 

Barry and Lucretia watch this man talk about his plan with wide eyes, hanging on to every word. This was something they both had only dreamed of, didn’t think it would ever be a thing in their lifetime because of how some of the world sees science as a little less than magic. But the way this man talks of this organization, makes them both think it’ll become real in some years down the road. 

 

“And when it becomes a reality, if you two are up for it. I want the two of you to be some of the first people I bring into this thing. For I know the two of you can do great things. It might only be five years, or maybe 20, but I will give you this job and you’ll never have to work again.” 

 

“Yes, of course!” Lucretia stands, smiling wide and clapping her hands together. Barry is more quiet, thinking it over. Not because he’s unsure of whether or not he wants to become apart of this, but because he’s never thought he’d be offered something such as this. He puts his head in his hands and feels tears run down his cheeks. Lucretia wraps her arms around his shoulders from the side and hugs him tight. 

 

“Barry are you okay.” She whispers.

 

“This is the best thing I’ve ever been offered.” He whispers and looks back up at Christopher. The Lord is smiling at him, face soft like a proud father. He walks around the desk and puts his hand on Barry’s shoulder. 

 

Barry stands, and stands tall. He’s not yet as tall as this Lord, he nods, trying to stop his lip from quivering. Lucretia stands tall next to him, the same height as Christopher. 

 

“I can’t wait to see what you do, my Lord.” Is all he says. Christopher smiles at him and puts both hands on his shoulder this time, squeezing tightly. 

 

“No. I can’t wait to see what  _ you two _ do. Because I know you’ll do amazingly.” 

 

Barry loses his composure for just a moment and throws himself onto the Lord, hugging him tightly, which the Lord returns instantly. He runs his hand through Barry’s thick brown hair and chuckles softly. “I know you two will do perfectly.” 

 

Barry pulls back and smiles wide at Lucretia who Christopher opens his arms up to and she politely hugs him as well. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

The two are escorted out by a pair of guards, both high on excitement of what they just heard. They’re clutching at each other's arms and they’re taken to rooms in the capitol, which they find out is also a palace, the home of the Lord and his family. 

 

They each have their own rooms, but they connect to each others. Once they each get settled in and cleaned up, Barry rushes to Lucretia’s room and is smiling wide. 

 

“Can you believe this?” He says as soon as he sees her. 

 

“Not at all!” She’s writing in her journals swiftly, a wide smile on her face, cheeks ruddy with happy tears. Lucretia stops for only a moment to run over and hug Barry tightly, kissing him on the cheek. He kisses her cheek as well and they stand like that, hugging one another tightly, still letting what happened run through their heads. 

 

“I really hope this happens, if it doesn’t… I will be so upset.” She says when they break apart. 

 

“Gods. So do I. But I think he’s going to keep in touch with us, especially if he let us stay in his home. So we’re probably guests until we leave.” 

 

“Guests. In the Lord's own home, no one will believe us back home!” 

 

“No one at all!” Barry laughs and picks Lucretia up by her waist and spins her around, the two of them laughing and falling onto the large bed in the room. 

 

“I can’t wait to tell my mother… She’ll be so proud.” 

 

“My mother and father will be as well,” She covers her mouth and giggles. “But we can’t tell them…” Lucretia looks at Barry sadly. 

 

“....Right.” 

 

“One day…” She grabs his hand and squeezes, the two looking up at the beautifully decorated ceiling. 

 

“One day…” Barry whispers, another wide smile spreading across his face.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably my favorite chapter so far, and I am loving what I have of the story so far, and I hope others do as well. 
> 
> If you want to talk to me about it, or know more about the world I have it based in, find me @LitchBarry on tumblr and I'll talk about anything!


	4. Interlude I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, longest chapter yet and I really like this one. Fae is a friend of mines DnD character in my campaign and I really hope I got her characterization right. If I didn't, you can yell at me Chey
> 
> And I know it might be feeling like blupjeans is becoming a thing much earlier than in the actual show, but it's not, it's just a lot of platonic love, something that I'd like to see more of between the members of the IPRE, especially in this fic anyways.

Barry went home for about a month and a half before he was getting antsy from not being in that city. He was there for a good six months, working here and there, mostly in a local tavern he found near the capitol that seemed decent enough. But after that long he knew he had to go back and visit his mother and see how she was doing. He had been getting letters of course, saying how she was doing better than ever, working in her little garden out back and walking around town. Barry was really happy that she was doing well, and a little upset that he wasn’t there for her at times. 

 

This time he went by airship, thanks to the Lord, it was faster and a lot easier on him. Luckily there wasn’t any storms like last time and it was literal smooth sailing. When he landed about a miles trek out from his village, some of the locals looked at him curiously. He finally got home feeling a little grimy and dirty, and he saw that his mother wasn’t home, so he hopped into a bath and washed off as quick as possible. When he finally got out his mother was still not around so he decided to walk around town to see if she was out. 

 

He makes his way through town and to the shop he worked in for most of his teen years and entered, the little bell above the door ringing softly. At the counter is his mother, talking to the shopkeep and smiling. Barry smiles to himself, happy to finally see his mother in person again. 

 

“Mother.” He walks over to her and she smiles wide when she sees him, wrapping her arms around him in a big hug. Marlaina was taller than him by a few inches, apparently his father was the short one in the family. 

 

“Welcome home Barry.” She whispers, smiling against the top of his head. 

 

“It’s just for a little while, I have to go back after a while.” He says and pulls back out of her grasp, her face changes to that of disappointment.

 

“You’ve been gone six months.” She starts.

 

“And I’ll be here for about two, I have work there and it’s important to me.” 

 

“What do you even do there?” She asks, crossing her arms over her chest. Barry looks down, he avoided that topic so much in their letters because he couldn’t exactly tell her about what was going on, he only told her about the odd jobs he works. But he thinks he could tell her about the Lord. 

 

“Here… Let’s take a walk and I can tell you about what I’ve been doing.” She sighs and nods, taking his arm and pulling him out of the shop. 

 

“So, what have you been doing?” 

 

“You’ve heard of the Lord Christopher?” She nods and he continues. “He… He was here a few years ago and I talked to him and we got along, him and his party. Then when we were in Helimire, I found him… Well he found my friend and I, and we spoke with him about something that I can’t talk about at this moment. But he’s… he’s helping us and all that. I sometimes run errands for him and some other things as well.”

 

It takes some time for his mother to speak, looking straight ahead and biting her bottom lip. 

 

“What’s it like there?” Is all she asks.

 

“It’s nice, more expensive, but what else do you expect. I love it a lot, feels like I fit in more there and I finally have friends.” Barry runs a hand through his hair and notice it’s gotten longer, slightly curled strands brush the back of his neck, soft and fluffy. He drops his hand down and sighs. “I finally have a place where I fit in.” He whispers. He looks over at his mother and she’s smiling at him, eyes glossy with tears. 

 

“I’m glad you have that, and I’m glad you’ve finally told me everything you can. That’s all I wanted.” 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Barry is laying on his back in the middle of the field out behind his house, hearing the river behind him ripple and bubble. He runs a hand over the growing stubble on his face and through his hair. Fuck he’s really going to need a shave and a haircut when he gets home. That statement makes him stop for a second. He considered Helimire home and he’s only lived there for six months, yeah he considered this little village where he was born home, but it was so different in Helimire. 

 

He opens his eyes and opens them to see a pair of familiar faces, obviously older, but very much the same. Barry can’t help the little shout he makes as he sits up quickly, almost hitting one of them with his forehead. They both snickered and sat down near him, grinning.

 

“Hello again Barold.” He looks to the twin on the left, and notices the same little birthmark under their eye. He grins right back.

 

“Hello Lup.” The both of them look at him with wide eyes and mouths agape. 

 

“You remember who’s who!” Taako says, pouting a bit. 

 

“I remember things pretty well.” 

 

“Damn, most people don’t.” Lup comments, leaning back, using her hands to keep her up.

 

“So where have you been Barold, we were here a couple months ago and asked your mother where you were, but she said you were out of the country!” Taako crosses his arms, leans forward, and glares a bit. Like he’s personally offended at the fact that Barry wasn’t there to spend time with the two of them when they finally passed through again after probably so long. 

 

“I’ve been in Helimire the past six months, I’ll be heading back in two weeks.” He feels a little bad, because now that he knows they’re here, he’d like to spend as much time with them as possible, as well as time with his mother. Dividing time wouldn’t be hard. He sees both of them cock their heads and look at each other, confused, for a moment. 

 

“What the hell were you doing in Helimire? Thought you’d never leave this little place.” Lup asks.

 

“Wanted to get out for a while, didn’t plan on staying, but a few people kept me there.” Barry smiles to himself. Taako grins and saddles up beside Barry, leaning into his personal space. The human makes a face and leans away a bit. 

 

“Ohhh what  _ kind _ of person Barold.” He’s teasing him and he knows it. The way he’s grinning, little sharp teeth poking out from behind his lips. He sighs and shakes his head. 

 

“Nothing like that, dammit. A few friends who see things the way I do, other scientists. And the…. Currently ruling Lord.” Lup and Taako’s eyes go wide at the last comment, and they look at him in disbelief.

 

“No way!” They both shout. Barry waves his hands and shushes them. 

 

“Only my mother and you two know about it here. I’m sure word’ll get a long that I’m working for him a little, mostly helping him run errands since he’s a little bedridden and sick as of late. I felt bad for leaving, even though there’s others.”

 

“Can’t believe this nerd is friends with a damn Lord, and one who’s actually a decent guy at that. Is it true what people say?” Lup leans in close, her grin matching the one her brother wore a little bit ago. Barry narrows his eyes and looks at her straight on. Her eyes are two different colors…. The left is a dark green and the right is a darkish blue. He feels himself flush a bit and hates himself for it.

 

“There’s rumors that he’s like… Immortal or something. His patron is the goddamn Raven Queen, there  _ has _ to be something weird going on with him, right?” Barry thinks on that and remembers the pendant around his neck of the Raven Queen’s symbol. 

 

“I mean, from what I see of him, he’s just a loving man. Loves his weird little family, his daughter, and his husband. Nothing really out of the ordinary.” 

 

“Wait.” Taako puts up a hand, then points at Barry. “He has a husband?” Barry nods.

“Lord Basil. He’s a cleric, I talked to him a few times, mostly him asking me to pick things up for his partner, but he’s very kind. They have a little girl, Claudia, little tyke, really sweet but probably going to be a handful later in life.” The little girl sometimes attached to him when she sees him walking through the halls of the home, asking him to tell her stories of his youth, or just have him make something wild up. He loved the little one and honestly it made him someday want to be a parent. But then he sees Basil running after her after a bath with absolutely nothing on and thinks maybe he can wait until he’s a little older. 

 

He looks back to Taako and the Elf is looking down at his hands on his lap, looking… confused and a little happy. There’s a small smile on his face that says so many things. Barry puts his hand on Taako’s shoulder and just smiles softly. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  
  


Lucretia was in the large library in the mansion, capitol, whatever this was at this moment. She had finished running some errands for herself, picking up something nice as well for herself. She was sitting in one of the high backed chairs in the library, curled up, a medium sized tomb open on her lap. She was occasionally dozing off a bit as she flipped through the pages of a book about old science that was probably over three hundred years old. 

 

“That’s probably my favorite non-fiction book in my entire library.” Comes a voice from the door to the room. She had left it open, knowing other people occasionally came to and fro, grabbing books and taking them back to their rooms. Christopher is standing at the door, smiling softly, leaning heavily on his cane. He technically wasn’t supposed to be out of bed, he was ill. 

 

“It’s pretty fantastic, knowing how long science has been around, and how much it’s changed in the past 300 years.” She sits up a little bit and watches as the other man walks over to another chiar and sits down heavily. 

 

“And seeing how people think about science back then, compared to now. But.” He grins. “Some of those same ideals are still in place today, not as much as a few years back, but still, there’s people who are outspoken about not wanting as much science in the world as there is.” 

 

“But you and your family intend on making that happen?” 

 

“I sure as hell hope.” He stands again and walks around the room, seeming to look for something among the shelves. He looks back at her and cocks his head, grey strands of hair falling across his face. “Are you a fan of fiction?” He asks.

 

“Isn’t everyone?” He laughs, nodding his head.

 

“Very true, my lady.” He pulls out a thinner leather bound book and walks it over to her. “This is probably one of my favorite novels from the past two centuries. A lot of it deals with the Raven Queen and someone she took in, it’s utterly beautiful, I promise.”  Lucretia takes it and looks at the red letters on the front, tracing them with her fingers.

 

“I’m sure I will, thank you, sir.” He makes a face.

 

“You can call me Christopher, you’ve lived here long enough and I consider you a dear friend, no need for formalities.” She feels her cheeks heat up but she nods. 

 

“Of course, thank you… Christopher.” 

 

He leaves after an hour later after grabbing a couple of books and when Fae’gwyn runs into the room, her heels clicking loudly on the hardwood floor. 

 

“Go! Back to your room!” This half-elf has to look up a bit at Christopher as she scolds him, pointing a finger at him. He held his hands up and chuckled, saying a soft goodbye to Lucretia before heading out the door. Fae huffs as he walks out, her hands on her hips as he makes his way down the hall. 

 

“Is he always this much trouble?” Lucretia asks, smiling behind her book. Fae turns to look at her and grins cheekily. She plops down on a seat near hers, propping her feet up on the coffee table in the center. 

 

“He does! God, he’s like a dad to all of us half the time, but when he’s sick he does not want to stay in bed!” Fae looks down and bites her lip for a moment. “This is the worst he’s been in a while, Basil is really really scared that this might be his last leg. He had a child three years ago and the birth was… It was a home delivery, Basil doing it, and Chris bled too much for comfort after. He was bedridden longer than most new parents should have been. It’s a little scary because we always saw him as this immortal force when we all first met him. He was so… he just seemed like the kind of person who could never get knocked down.” 

 

Lucretia frowns and reaches over and puts a hand on Fae’s hand, smiling at her softly.

 

“From what I’ve seen of him in the past six months, he seems like he’s… Hm. Content. Happy to just be around his family. Was he like that before, or when you all were adventuring together?” 

 

“At first he was just mostly amused by our antics, literally the second day we knew him, he took us to a fighting ring on the other side of town, let Rikki fight a dude, she got down low on health and instantly healed her back to her full health, and no one knew.” Fae chuckles and shakes her head. “She ended up losing, but the fight was so goddamn close, people were on the edge, but in the end, the other won. But it was so damn fun. He was always kind to us, despite some arguments at times. We all knew Basil and him were into each other, but in the end, we never really expected either of them to get together like they are now.” She makes a face.

 

“They’re so gross, they always have been. I’ve never seen two people be so affectionate with one another more than those two… Well. Kiris and his boyfriend are pretty gross, not as bad though.” Fae sticks out her tongue. “Old men in love.” But Lucretia can tell that there’s no malice behind the words. Only love. 

 

“How old are they? Christopher looks quite up there, yet he just had a child, which is probably why he didn’t do so well after.” 

 

“Basil is 38 or something? Christopher I think is 40.” Lucretia looks a little shocked.

 

“He looks older.” 

 

“He’s just weird.” 

 

The two of them laugh and take some time to sit in comfortable silence. Fae is sewing something, looking down at her lap with such focus of a person who wants to get something done fast. 

 

Lucretia smiles into the book she’s reading, a fond feeling blossoming in her chest. This wasn’t the first time they’ve spoken, you can’t really go six months in a groups home without getting to know them all a little more. She spent almost equal time with everyone she could, but she felt a little more comfortable around Fae, interested in her and how she was just so bold and ready to speak up for what she believed in, how she could dominate a conversation with practiced ease. 

 

She was a bit older than Lucretia, but honestly she got crushes on people easily. And Fae was really pretty; dark brown hair, smooth skin, and the lightest blue eyes she’s ever seen. Lucretia was a little enamored. Her flirting was shaky, nervous and shy. But that honestly didn’t let anything stop her. This was the first time though that she had heard about Fae’s past with these people, she loved how fond and happy the half-elf looked when talking about them. She probably didn’t even expect to be this close to them, but now they’re here. 

 

They had talked late at night, in this same library, Lucretia told Fae about her childhood and her parents, talked about how much she traveled the world and wrote down everything in her journals so she could remember anything and everything. How a shelf in her room here was dedicated to just these journals, which, she was probably going to have to get a new one, a bigger one, because it was starting to get filled. Lucretia had been writing in her journals since as long as she could write. 

 

Those first ones when she was young, she found and rewrote when she was a teenager so they could be read better. Lucretia talked about how her parents were supportive of almost everything she did, encouraged her to go see the world and helped pay her way. She would stay in cities for a few months, work so she could have money to travel more, and only spent what she needed. Sometimes she splurged on something nice. 

 

She was in her own head so much that she didn’t notice that she was staring off into the distance, and then she came back to Fae waving a blue piece of fabric in front of her face. Lucretia shakes her head and looks at Fae, who’s grinning.

 

“What’s that?” Lucretia asks, looking at the silken fabric. 

 

“It’s for you! It’s a scarf!” Fae stands over Lucretia sitting in the chair and wraps it around her neck. The fabric feels like water on her skin and she holds the two ends in both of her hands, looking at the details. It was utterly beautiful. The small embroidery was gold, beautiful against the blue of the fabric. On one end was a calligraphy L. Lucretia runs her fingers over the letter, then over the embroidery and is just awestruck. 

 

“This is… This is so beautiful, Fae.” 

 

“Well of course it is! Had to match the person!” Lucretia feels her face heat up and thanked whatever deity she can that the other can’t tell.

 

“...You’re too kind.” Lucretia whispers, looking up from under her eyelashes, smiling nervously. 

 

Fae grins, her eyes lighting up happily. She leans down and kisses the corner of Lucretia’s mouth, nuzzling her cheek after with her nose. 

 

Lucretia laughs and brushes their noses together, giving Fae her own kiss on the mouth, feeling her body relax and they kiss for a little while, the sun coming through the window of the room fading into night after sometime. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Three months pass in a blur to everyone in Helimire, Barry was back in the city and laying on his made bed, dozing. His legs were off the edge and his door was open. It was the middle of summer and he honestly felt like he was dying, he didn’t think the weather in Helimire would get this hot and wearing jeans in this heat was actual hell. But he was going to push it until he finally got the energy to get up and go shopping for some more weather appropriate clothing. 

 

He started falling deeper into sleep when he heard a loud commotion come from outside of his room, down the hall a bit. There was shouting and he saw a blur run past the door, and a halfling he knew all too well pounce, causing a crash. Barry gets up and groans, looking out his door and down the hall. Rikki was sitting on the back of what looked to be an elf with shades of bright red hair. 

“Rikki what the hell are you doing?” 

 

“Barold! Is that you?! Get this little shit off of me!” Rikki glares, baring her teeth. Barry should probably intervene or else the elf would get bit. And he had a big feeling that it was Taako, and when he got closer, he was very much right. 

 

“Rikki get off the elf.” He says, looking down at her.

 

“He was trying to get past security to a place he couldn’t go! He and his twin.” She still stands and brushes off her pants, glaring. 

 

“It seemed like the most fun place to go in this whole boring place! Where is my sister!” 

 

“Catching up.” Lup is walking down the hall, Christopher on one side, Lucretia on the other. They both looked confused, Lup looked smug. When she sees Barry she smiles and practically throws herself against him in a hug.

 

“Gross, Lup.” Taako comments from behing. Barry’s mind short circuits for a moment before he hugs back, smiling wide. When the two of them pull apart, Taako still hugs him a bit, but not as long as he and Lup.

 

“What are you two doing here?” He asks.

 

“Wanted to come to a big city! And this is the biggest!” Taako says, grinning. Barry puts his hands on his hips and looks at Taako, one eyebrow raised.

 

“Than you two tried to sneak into a roped off part of the capital?” 

 

“We live for adventure!” Taako shrugs, throwing his hands in the air. Barry looks at Lup. She just grins and shrugs, neither of them care.

 

Christopher looks at Barry and sighs softly, but he’s smiling a bit. 

 

“How do you know these two Barry? Can you vouch for them at least a little, say they weren’t going to try to steal anything important.”

 

“I don’t think they would, they’re smarter than that.” He side eyes them both. “I met them for the first time when I was probably 12? We met again when I was back home visiting. They’re perfectly fine.” Christopher nods and walks past them all, motioning for Lucretia to follow him. 

 

“Thank you Barry.” He nods, feeling his face heat up, even from the minor praise. Barry pulls the two into his room, leaving the door open to keep the cool air coming in. 

 

“Guys what the hell, you can’t just do that!” He scolds, pushing them both down so they’re sitting on his bed. 

 

“Just wanted to see if we could have done it.” 

 

“I know you two could have done it, but now the Lord knows you two are affiliated with me and I’m scared that he’ll trust me less.” Barry is serious, looking distraught. He grabs his chair from his desk and sits down in it, slumping a bit, rubbing his hands over his face. 

 

On the bed the two actually looked a little guilty, neither of them really thought, and they knew Barry was here, that he was staying in this building, working for the Lord. And he says just that, his voice soft.

 

“You two knew I’ve been here for a while, I left my hometown before you two did, you two knew I was coming back.” Barry was actually a little angry, he looks back up at the two, frowning. 

 

“Sorry Barry.” Taako is actually the first to speak up, Lup saying the same as well after a moment. 

 

“We honestly weren’t thinking that much.” Barry snorts a bit. Taako looks angry for a second, before Lup puts her hand on his arm, glaring at her brother.

 

“We weren’t, and honestly we should have thought. Especially since we knew you were here beforehand. I think we forgot for a moment, being in a new city clouds your judgement.” Barry chuckles and smiles, he knew that all too well.

 

“I’ll admit that’s true. The first month and a half I was here I did so much that I probably shouldn’t have.” The twins grin at him. “I’m not telling you shit.” He says, wagging a finger at the two of them. 

 

“Aw you’re no fun, Barold.” Taako sticks his tongue out at the human, Lup laughing alongside of him. She laughs so hard that she falls back against the bed. 

 

“Damn, Barry, you’re living in luxury. Taako lay down!” Taako lays back and stretches like a cat, groaning softly.

 

“Shit this bed is really nice. Mind if we crash here for a bit.” Barry sighs and walks over to his door and closes it, making sure to tell a passing servant to tell Christopher that the twins will be staying for a while, that they didn’t need another room, that they’d be fine in his unless they wanted their own. 

 

“Are you two going to change or are you going to just sleep in your day clothes?” He asks, cocking his head from the door. 

“You have any clothes we can borrow because all of ours at the moment aren’t… the best.” Taako and Lup look at their bags on the floor they weren’t very big so most of their stuff was probably dirty. He walks over to his closet and pulls out a simple shirt for each of them, soft and comfortable, and a pair of either soft shorts or pants for them to pick from. Taako picks the shorts and Lup the pants. They both go into his bathroom that’s connected to his room and change, he changes as quickly as possible in his room into his night clothes. It wasn’t much, just the shirt he wore the day before, and his boxers. He was fine. He was fine. He takes a deep breath and runs his hands through his hair. 

 

“You look stressed, Barold.” Comes Lup’s voice. She’s coming out of the bathroom first. “Taako is pampering himself with that stuff you have in there.”   
  
“It’s not mine, just has been in there since I moved in. Like a hotel. And I’m just. A lot has happened I guess, I have to run some errands in the next few days, nothing big, but it’s tiring.” Lup walks over to him and he forgot how she was taller than him, he blushes as he looks up at her.

 

“Well good thing you’re sleeping in tomorrow, then showing us around since you’re our personal tour guide for a while!” She ruffles his hair and wraps him in a hug. He laughs and rubs her back, tucking his head under her chin for a moment. God he adored the physical contact that he’s been getting more and more in the past almost year from his new friends. 

 

“I guess I can do that.” 

 

“God stop you two, s’gross.” Taako comes out of the bathroom, his hair is fluffy and out of it’s small ponytail. He climbs into Barry’s king sized bed with ease and flops down face first. “C’mon Barold, you’re in the middle, the three of us are doin a good cuddle.” 

 

“Don’t keep the elf waiting.” Lup says, grinning. 

 

Barry climbs into his bed and gets under the covers, throwing an arm over Taako, pulling him against his chest. God when was the last time he cuddled with someone? Probably Lucretia a few weeks ago, but now she had Fae to share a bed with sometimes, he was on his own. 

 

He presses his face against the back of the elf’s neck and chuckles. 

 

“You used my cologne right before going to bed?” He asks. 

 

“Well I’m probably a little dirty, didn’t wanna stink up your bed.” Taako pats his hand that rests on his stomach. Barry chuckles and feel and arm wrap an arm around his chest, a thin body pressing against his back. Wow this was nice, warm, but his room was cold enough now that it would last long enough. 

 

“Good night Taako.” Lup says from behind him, breath warm against the back of his head. 

 

“Night, Lulu. Night Barold.” Taako yawns, grabbing Barry’s hand and smacking a gross kiss against the back of it, he makes a face, leaning up a bit to smack a partial kiss, partial raspberry to Taako’s cheek, which makes the elf yelp and shove him a bit. 

 

“Night Taak.” Barry mumbles, already feeling really sleepy. 

 

“Sleep well Barry.” Lup whispers, pressing a kiss to the back of his head. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

It’s a week and a half later and Barry is with the twins making their way through the city, outside its gates, and into the flat lands outside of the northern part of the city. They were to meet a contact of Christopher’s and escort them back to the capitol to talk to the Lord. 

 

“So what’re these other nerds names?” Barry looks down at the map in his hands and looks at the names on the sides.

 

“Merle Highchurch and Davenport. Apparently they don’t know each other, so they’re at this crossroads along with each other, having never met each other.” It’s honestly not a far walk, maybe about an hour. In the distance the three of them can see two figures, and when they get up close enough to identify the two. 

 

A gnome and a dwarf, both with brown skin, the halfling’s is darker, he has ginger hair and a pretty nice curly moustache. The dwarf has brownish hair, streaked with grey, a long beard and flowers woven into it. 

 

“Guess these are our guys.” Taako says and bounds up to them, his sister in tow. Barry rolls his eyes and follows at a more casual pace. 

 

The dwarf looks at them all and crosses his arms over his chest and speaks, voice loud. 

 

“You the three who’re taking me and this other dude to the capitol?”    
  
“You must be Merle Highchurch, and yes, sir, we are.” Barry is polite, nodding to him. He honestly just wants to get this mission over with so he can go back to the manor and relax in the spa in the gardens because he’s been running around for days and he was aching all over. He honestly should probably work on losing some weight. 

 

“Yup that’s me! Nice ta meet’cha” He grins and the two shake hands, Barry wincing a bit at the pressure. 

 

“And you must be Davenport, a pleasure as well.” The gnome grins at him and shakes his hand, this one more loose and free than before. 

 

“You as well!” His voice is higher than anticipated, kind of squeaky. 

 

The walk back is pretty mellow, quiet chatting between the three of them, the twins scouting ahead and just playing around. He smiled fondly at the two of them. 

 

“So what one are you with.” Barry hears Merle say from his side and he looks at him, shocked. 

 

“Ne-neither! Gods, they’re my friends.” Merle narrows his eyes at the human and shrugs. 

 

“Sure thing buddy, whatever you say.” And that’s the last of that. They walk through the main northern gates and weave through the populated city and around the main entrance of the capitol. Merle and Davenport give the three an odd look, thinking they’re going to go in through the main entrance. 

 

They make their way around the back and through a gate that Barry has a special thing to get in through the gates of the garden. Merle looks in awe and tries to be sneaky about picking some of the flowers from their bushes, walking and weaving them into his beard. Barry chuckles and acts like he didn’t see a thing. 

 

Barry takes them both to Christopher, who’s sitting in his study, walking around, leaning heavily on his cane. He perks up when he sees the five of them coming through the door and gestures  for Merle and Davenport to sit down in two chairs across from him.

 

“Thank you, you three.” And that’s it, they all leave and close the door behind him. 

 

“Is he going to recruit them?” Taako asks as they all head back to their rooms. The twins had slept in his room for about a week before he got a little frustrated and needed his own space. But honestly, they’re just in a room across from his and sneak into his room as much as possible when they can tell he’s okay with them being in there.

 

“Probably, if the Lord trusts them, they have to be good.” He looks back at them as they walk into their room, leaving the door open. 

 

“You two wanna go swimming in the garden?” He asks, cocking his head.

 

“Do you even have to ask.” Lup says, grinning. 

 

“...Fair.” They meet up half an hour later down in the garden, making their way out to the pool that’s out there. It’s covered to be protected from weather and other things, the twins are already messing around. 

“Started without me I see.” He grumbles, before stepping down in as quickly as possible. God he was still so unconfident about himself. 

 

“Of course we did. It’s hot out and we needed to cool off.” 

 

For some reason time flies when you’re swimming, soon the sun begins to set and Barry is leaning against the side of the pool watching the sunset on the other side of the glass dome. Taako had got out earlier to nap in the sun on the side of the pool, probably having fallen asleep. Lup swims up behind him and leans against the wall next to him.

 

“You good Barold?” She asks, not looking at him, but also watching the sunset. 

 

“Yeah, just finally happy that I can relax for a little while. This is one of the things I’m probably going to do the most, swim, nap in the sun like your catlike brother.” He points at the other elf and chuckles. 

 

“You’ll burn in a matter of minutes, you pasty white boy.” She pinches his side under the water and he jerks away from her, smiling, flushing deeply. 

 

“Don’t even need the sun to turn red!” She laughs, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Nerd.” She mumbles. 

 

“Same could be said about you. I saw you one night in the library reading those old science texts.” 

 

“Don’t call me out like this.”   
  
“Hey I could tell you that your brother looks through them sometimes as well.” Lup looks at her brother and chuckles, a fond look coming over her face.

 

“Yeah I know. He just won't admit it.” 

 

Lup leans her head against his shoulder and the two of them watch the sun fall beyond sight, the sky still shades of red, and Barry looks at Lup for a moment and can see fire in her eyes. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are enjoying this, I know it's not getting much traction, but I'm happy that at least some people are enjoying it. 
> 
> If you want to talk to me about it/request something for a future chapter, don't hesitate in asking me on tumblr @ LitchBarry because I'll try to do it.


	5. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the ending of this fic. It's probably the longest thing I've ever done and I'm so proud of this. And I love it so much and at this point, the few people who have read this, and liked it, you all are amazing. 
> 
> I knew this fic was never going to get as many views as anything else. One it's not a shippy fic, two Barry isn't all that popular. But I loved writing this and to those who read this/liked this, you all are great.

Ten years pass in almost a blur. So much happened in the ten years since Barry practically made Helimire his home. He traveled less and less back home as time went on, he acquired a lower position on the council of Helimire’s science division, something he fell in love with even more now that he was around others like him. Lucretia held the same position he did, spent more time in a lab than her own rooms at times. Barry still did errands for the Lord and his family, becoming closer with them in the meantime. 

 

He also makes six other friends who end up meaning the world to him, six others who he has no idea that will actually change his life in the future. Merle, Davenport, Taako, Lup, and Lucretia had been apart of his life for the past ten years and he couldn’t think of another life without them. 

 

But. Five years into their stay at this manor. Another familiar face he hadn’t seen in many many years comes back into his life. Taller, broader, still soft. Bushy beard and large sideburns and his hair was down to his shoulderblades. 

 

Magnus Burnsides rushed into his life, a lot louder than when they had first met. He was injured in a street brawl that was meant to only be fisticuffs, but the opponent turned it into something more deadly with magic. He was particularly badly injured, a slash across his stomach from a spell gone wrong. The closest cleric was in the manor, Lord Basil himself took over when others came to him, helping the tall man along through another entrance of the manor. 

 

Barry sees him rushed by and almost instantly recognizes him, he hadn’t changed all that much when they had first met. He follows along quickly, going into a room with the others and standing where he won’t be an issue or in the way. The injury isn’t that hard to fix up, Basil is one of the best clerics in the city, Merle is right next to him, helping to guide his hand occasionally, and to help keep Magnus calm in this time. Magnus ends up sleeping deeply for a few hours, sleeping off everything he had gone through.

 

Barry returns a few hours later and sees that the man is awake once more, propped up and eating a hearty stew, looking like it’s the best meal he’s had in months. From the smell it’s Taako’s recipe, so he knows how good it is. He makes his way over to the man, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to his bed. Magnus startles and looks over, his eyes going wide. 

 

“Barry!?” He’s confused but also has a huge grin on his face. Barry isn’t surprised at all that Magnus could tell it was him, nothing much had changed in the past five years, well technically ten years almost. 

 

“Good to see you again Magnus. Honestly never really thought we’d see each other again.” He smiles and gasps when Magnus pulls him into a hug. Barry then hears a gasp from the man and he’s put back into his chair. 

 

“Ouch. Maybe that was a bad idea.” He mumbles. Barry laughs a bit. 

 

“I know a couple clerics who will be a little pissed if you hurt yourself again after just being fixed.” 

 

“You knew them two?” Magnus asks. Barry nods, shrugging a bit.

 

“Good friends of mine, I’m happy to call them.” Barry tells Magnus of the two men, and of the others as well, and what he’s in the city for. 

 

Magnus tells him that he’s in the city because he’s been traveling the countries for sometime, starting out when he finally reached the age where he could travel on his own, and he’s never stopped. He did a lot of different things for money, most of the time though he would work in taverns for whoever, especially if they were desperate for anyone to help. 

 

Magnus talks about the different kinds of people he’s met over the years, how once he met a pair of twins, almost five years ago now, who caused his life a little bit of hell but also made him happy and entertained for a couple of months while he was in a small city. Barry chuckles at the things the three of them got up to and knows exactly who they are. 

 

“They certainly are something aren’t they?” Barry says once Magnus is finished his story. 

 

“Are the same ones from when?” He nods. 

 

“The exact same, they’re good friends of mine now. Family, you could say.”  

 

Magnus rambles on for another hour, talking about anything and everything he possibly could about his travels through the nearby countries. Barry listens and asks questions when he's given the chance because he's generally interested. 

 

But he can see the human getting tired and that the sky outside his dark, how Magnus is starting to doze off, his head bobbing and his eyes are fluttering shut every once in awhile. Barry chuckles and stands, patting Magnus on the shoulder gently. 

 

“Get some sleep, buddy.” Barry whispers. Magnus mumbles something and sinks down in the bed and all but shoves his face into a pillow and starts snoring. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Barry walks out of the small infirmary, walking slowly up a few flights of stairs and back to his own room. When he enters he’s greeted with the sight of the twins in his room. At this point in time he’s not surprised anymore because they’ve done this so much over the past many years. Taako is curled up at the end of his bed like a cat and smiles a bit when Barry enters. 

 

“You two okay?” He asks, sitting on the bed next to Taako and starts running his fingers through the elves slightly messy hair. Lup is sitting at his desk, spinning around in his chair slowly. Lup is the one who speaks, answering his question. 

 

“We heard Basil running through the halls earlier really panicked and Fae, Lucretia, and us followed him and found out that baby Marcello is on the way.” Barry perks up a bit. 

 

“Really, I thought the little one wasn’t due for another month?” He asks, tilting his head.

 

“He wanted to come sooner! Wanted to see the world.” Taako says, rolling over and sitting up and crossing his legs.

 

Little Marcello was Lord Christopher and Basil’s newest addition, the pregnancy was planned and Claudia was super excited to have a little sibling, the little girl now being 8 years old. Everyone who lived in the manor was excited for the newcomer, everyone in the past 8 months have got the family something for the child, the twins said that they’d cook all the meals for the first 6 months, Barry got the little one a onesie, colored like the sky, and Lucretia painted the child’s new room.  

 

Barry had watched for the past fives years of knowing this couple that their relationship was pretty much perfect. Of course they had their arguments, what couple didn’t? But he watched how Basil doted on Christopher through his entire pregnancy, hardly ever leaving his side. Christopher snapped a few times, but always went straight back. Apparently the reason why Basil doted all the time was because their first planned child, before Claudia, ended in a miscarriage that had the two of them set apart for a while, before they had Claudia. 

 

Barry watched how Basil doted and instantly knew that’s how he would probably act with his future partner if they ever had children. And he really hope he ended up with someone who wanted kids, he really really wanted children. He watched Claudia grow up for the past five years and couldn’t wait for a child of his own. That little girl was a sweetheart with a devious mind. 

 

Lup spins once more in the chair then sits down on the other side of Barry and bumps his shoulders, pulling her legs up, holding onto her ankles. 

 

“You excited for the baby Barold? I’m gonna spoil him rotten.” 

 

“Like you and Taako already do with Claudia?”  

 

“Of course!” That little girl was spoiled by so many people in the manor and she preened under the affection and attention. But she wasn’t horrible about it. If she was told no about something, she wouldn’t throw a fit, she knew boundaries.

 

“So did you two just wait for me to come back to tell me that, it would have been everywhere by morning.”   
  
“We also wanted to know about the human that came through.” Taako says, turning his attention towards Barry. 

 

“Magnus Burnsides. I met him years ago when I was like 15 and he was really nice. I’m honestly surprised that I saw him again. Never really thought I would.” He leans back in his bed, his feet still hanging off the end. 

 

“It’s so weird…. I met nearly everyone that I know now, somewhere in my time growing up.” Taako makes a face and leans over Barry, looking down at him. 

 

“Don’t talk about that fate shit Barold. S’not real.” Barry rolls his eyes and reaches up, poking Taako’s cheek. 

 

“I  _ wasn’t _ . I was just saying, and I’m super glad it happened because you all are some of the closest friends I’ve ever had in my life. I’m just happy.”  Taako scoffs and flops down, head dropping onto Barry’s chest. Lup laughs at her brother and moves to mirror him, tucking herself close. 

 

“We all found each other, and it’s good.” Lup whispers. “You already know Taako and I only really had an aunt, and spent most of our time growing up just traveling and cooking for people. Finding this place, and you all, it’s finally nice to have something concrete.” 

 

“It’s nice to have a family.” Taako mumbles, even softer than Lup. 

 

The twins were something else to Barry, alone, they were like this with the others. But in public they were totally different. And Barry knew why, it was because of their past and the things they’ve gone through. The two were naturally scrappy and sarcastic. Barry honestly loved watching the two interact with people that weren’t close to them, watch how they brought prices of things down amazingly so. Intimidating shopkeepers with anything they possibly could. 

 

Barry closes his eyes and wraps his arms around both of them and sighs softly. These people were his family, and he couldn’t think of anyone better to have in his life. The human kisses both of their foreheads and reaches down real fast to grab the blanket to pull it over the three of them. It was one of those nights, where they just wanted to spend a quiet night with one another and not have to deal with anything else that was going on. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Barry could count on one hand the number of people he’s kissed in his entire life, it wasn’t that many, but now he was in a shitty tavern on the other side of Helimire, sitting in the lap of a burly man he was trying to get information from, for the Lord. He didn’t do missions very much, Christopher had others in the manor go out and do more of the dirty work, Magnus mostly, sometimes the twins. Lucretia and him were good with staying in the manor doing research on various things. 

 

With each passing day, month, year, everyone in the manor could see Christopher and the others get more and more close to getting the IPRE off the ground and into something stable. They worked day and night at times, doing research of their own so they could be ahead of the curve when it finally became a reality. Which, in the next few years, it could easily become real. With this manor, another part of it, becoming a center of knowledge of the Institute. Maybe later, they’d have an actual building.

 

But now here he was, in this position, probably about to do anything for information of an assassin who was rumored to be coming around the capital, everyone hearing rumors that someone was trying to kill one of the lords, or someone close to them. Both lords want to get information before moving forward with other actions, and having someone who is not well known outside of the manor. Barry was probably the best for it. Everyone knew Magnus, Taako, and Lup. Barry was good at things like this though, everyone looked at him as an innocent man, like he wasn’t a spy for the most powerful men in the world. 

 

The man, a pirate he found out, part of his face scarred, hidden partially by an eyepatch over his right eye, messy dark red hair, and messy stubble. This man did not care about his appearance whatsoever. Barry didn’t care either way, he wasn’t picky at all when it came to who he was with. Plus this was just to get information. He had already picked some things up, a few whispered words when he walked in. People talking about the Lord and his family, and trying to figure their weaknesses. 

 

The pirate, whose name he found was Jack, dragged his mouth down Barry’s neck and the human tried all he could not to make a face. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, he kind of just wanted to get the information and go home to his own bed. If this kept going he might not see his own bed that night. He finally speaks up because he was also generally curious. 

 

“Why’s everyone suddenly talking about the lord? Someone want him or someone in his family dead?” He asks. The rumors generally scared him, he cared about this family because they took him, and others in, and he didn’t want to see one of the children lose one of their parents or other family members. 

 

Jack sighs and pulls back, patting Barry’s hip, squeezing the softness there a bit. It made Barry squirm. 

 

“You know how he overthrew the other lords years ago?”    
  
“Doesn’t everyone?” Everyone in the world probably knew that story. 

“True. Well there’s someone who wants to overthrow him, no one on the council though. The Lord wouldn’t have anyone on it who he doesn't trust.” A soft kiss under his ear, making him whine a bit. “But let’s just say if I can get close enough. There’s a high reward for the kidnap or death of one of their children, in return for power.” 

 

At that, at those words, Barry can feel his heart stop. Those children were off limits, he was almost tempted to kill the man right now, but with all the people watching, he knows he wouldn’t make it out of his place alive. 

 

“You okay there handsome, you zoned out.” Jack pushed a hand through Barry’s hair and Barry shook his head and slides out of the pirate’s lap. 

 

“No, I just remembered I have to be out early tomorrow, I’ve. I’ve gotta go.” The turns quickly and yelps when the man grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him back before he can get anywhere. 

 

“Hey now, I thought we were having fun.” Jack smirks and lets him go.

 

“I mean we were, but…” He thinks quickly. “If you’re still here in a few days, I could be back.” He was lying through his teeth, but he was good at it. 

 

“Hm. Of course. See you then.” Jack grins and Barry rushes out of the building. He ran until he got to the manor and entered through the back, all the while, throwing down some dust of tracelessness behind him so no one could follow him. It was nearing midnight and he stood in front of the Lords room and took a moment to compose himself before standing straight, and knocking on the door. 

 

It takes a few moments before Basil shows up at the door, dressed in sleeping clothes, his head cocked. 

 

“Barry… What is it?” 

 

“I need to talk to everyone… I found who the rumors were talking about.” Basil stiffens and nods, his lip curling a bit. 

 

“Get the others, we’ll meet in the library in ten.” After he says that he shuts the door and Barry runs to get everyone. 

 

Ten minutes later they’re all in the library and once they’re all situated, Barry speaks. 

 

“His name is Jack, that’s all I know. I’ve already sketched him out so whoever you send to look for him can find him. He was at a tavern on the other side of the city, one where most of the pirates spend their time.” He swallows thickly, biting his bottom lip. Everyone in the room is showing various signs of emotion. Basil, Rikki, Fae, and Kiris look… Well pissed is the only word for it, Raika and Lucretia look worried, Magnus, the twins, Davenport, and Merle look ready to go fight. Barry’s just scared. Basil sends everyone off back to their rooms and then Barry sticks behind with the twins, listening in to Basil and Rikki, who they find out are planning on leaving that second. 

 

The three of them go to Barry’s room, where Lucretia, Magnus, Davenport, and Merle are sitting in various locations. 

 

“What took you three so long.” Taako speaks up.

 

“Basil and Rikki are heading out to the last known location. Guess we’ll figure out what happens tomorrow.” 

 

“They’re gonna try to kill the man.” Lucretia says, crossing her legs where she’s sitting on his bed. 

 

“Probably. He deserves it.” Barry mumbles and sits down on the floor against the wall. “He was… well he wasn’t a good dude, the way he talked… He doesn't care at all. He’ll kill and he won't think twice about it.” 

 

“How did you even get the information out of him?” Davenport asks, narrowing his eyes. Barry can’t help but to shift under his gaze. 

 

“Honestly? I just asked after a while. Not straight up, had to.. Butter him up first.” 

 

“And how did you do that?” Merle asks.

 

“Uhm. Well.” He feels his cheeks flare up. Barry hears Magnus laugh.

 

“I think he seduced him.” Magnus gets up from the bed and kneels down in front of Barry, pulling at the hem of his shirt, pulling it to reveal small bite marks on his neck and shoulder. Barry swats at the other man's hands and ignores his laughter. 

 

“Leave me alone.” He mumbles and pulls his shirt up, making a face. “It worked, that’s all that mattered.” Lucretia frowns at him and shakes her head, letting out a sigh.

 

“Barry you should be more careful, he could have hurt you.” Barry shrugs.

 

“They didn’t see anything in me, look at me!” He gestures to himself. “I’m not much to anyone, people will notice Magnus, Lup, and Taako if they went into a place like that because they’re more public figures for running errands for the lord. I stay here half the time doing work, no one thinks twice when they see me. They see me come into that tavern and think. Look at that nerdy little thing, can’t wait to have him in my lap.” He’s shaking now, honestly none of that meant to come out but that’s what he thought of himself. Barry could pass through life with no one noticing him and even now, when he was apart of this big thing, he still could be on the sidelines. 

 

Now, in his room, he looks over his friends and can’t think of something he could do for them other than research. Magnus was so good at doing what he did, a perfect fighter. Lucretia was leagues smarter than him, the twins could do magic better than anyone he knew honestly, Merle was a kind cleric who did anything for anyone, and Davenport was becoming the most perfect leader. 

 

Lucretia frowns at him and walks over to him and sits on her knees in front of him, grabbing his face in her hands. 

 

“Hey. Don’t you talk like that, you’re a valued member of this group and we need you. You see things the rest of us don’t and there are things we couldn’t have found out without you helping us. Barry, we love you, we’re your friends and we’ll do anything for you, you know that.” She smacks a kiss to his forehead and he leans heavily against her and smiles. 

 

“I love you all.” He whispers. 

 

“Love you too you big sap.” Magnus says and sits down on the floor next to him, so that their shoulders are pressed together. Everyone else sits down on the floor, the carpet comfortable, and they sit there and talk for a few hours, Davenport and Merle are the first two to leave. The twins make jokes about how they’re probably screwing or something. Barry rolls his eyes but doesn’t doubt it honestly. 

 

Lucretia is the next to leave, saying how she was going to Fae’s room, saying how the wood elf probably knew more about what Basil and Rikki were heading to do. Barry kisses her cheek after she kisses him as well. 

 

Magnus, Taako, Lup, and he all move to his bed and sit against soft pillows and curl up with one another. Barry felt safe with them, knowing that he had friends who loved him and would protect him. And he knew he would do anything in his power to protect them in return. He falls asleep, face smushed again Magnus’ chest, The twins curled like cats somewhere on his bed and the sleep is deep and nice. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

It’s twelve days before they hear anything about what happened. Long story short, Jack isn’t much to worry about anymore, and they’re sure the message is clear about what happens if you come across the lord and his family. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Two years after that incident is when things really start to be set in motion. There’s meetings with other scientists and magical people from around the world who are looking for work and that the institute is finally. Finally becoming a thing. People are being hired and are starting to work and starting to train. 

 

Six months in and they have real uniforms! Red the shade of the lord's cloak. Jackets or robes, all so beautifully crafted. When Barry receives his robe he slips it on, after sewing the patch onto his left breast pocket. He looks at himself in a mirror in his room and almost breaks down in tears. A few slip free here and there and he just. He’s so happy. Barry has watched this institute become a reality over the past almost ten years and he’s  _ so happy. _

 

The twins come flying into his room, their robes a little longer, more flowy. Magnus is next. His is a jacket that fits tightly, making him look broader and stronger. Lucretia has one like his own, Davenport and Merle one’s like Magnus’. 

 

At the first meeting, they’re the first seven on stage. There’s probably 250 people in the crowd in front of them and they’re all looking up at them with curiosity. Barry suddenly feels warm and he takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. 

 

Christopher is at the podium, speaking to everyone. Barry is so overwhelmed that he can hardly hear much through the blood rushing through his ears.  He explains how the seven of them have been researching, over the past five years, the light of creation. How they know it fell recently and how they’re going to go retrieve it. That the mission will take a year or less, depending how difficult the terrain it is to get through. 

 

Barry’s nervous, he’s never done something this big in his life, only smaller missions. But honestly. He wants to prove himself, and this is the best way to do it. The seven of them have done the most research out of anyone in this room. They’re ready, they’re prepared. 

 

All of them take a day to pack, packing only the necessities. Barry sends a note off to his mother, along with a picture of the seven of them, telling her what he’s doing, and that he might not be in contact for a long time. He shoulders his bag and makes his way down the hallway, smiling softly at Fae and Lucretia who are talking quietly in a corner, Fae worrying a bit over Lucretia, saying how everyone will miss her and how much she cares about her. It’s sweet. 

 

Out in the courtyard he stands next to Magnus who is bouncing on his toes, already so excited to get on the airship they see in the distance. 

 

“You excited?” Barry asks, looking up at Magnus. 

 

“Oh totally! I’ve never been on an airship before.” 

“Honestly, it’s not all that different than a regular ship, you’re just in the air.” Magnus looks at him and grins, sticking out his tongue. 

 

“Let me have some fun.” 

 

“Of course.” Next, the twins come out, bags slung over their shoulders. And soon the others arrive as well, and then they set out to the ship. As the ship is taking off, they’re all putting their bags in their respective rooms. They’re much smaller than the ones in the manor, but the best still look comfortable. 

 

Once Barry finishes putting his things away he walks up the stairs and walks to the front of the ship, looking out over the skies. It was clear, not a cloud in sight. It was beautiful. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

They traveled three months on the ship before landing in a clearing that they calculated to be near where the light of creation had fallen. The only times they really stopped anywhere was to refuel and get more supplies, but even then they weren’t in a place more than a day. Most of the time they never left the ship during those times, it was easier to stay on the ship. During that time they got more information on where the light was, and was able to calculate where it had landed more precisely.

 

They trek through woods and finally find the light on top of a small hill, it would have been easy for them to just go up to it and grab it, but the only downside was the giant that was walking around it and looking at it with curiosity.

 

Barry has never fought anything bigger than a human in his entire life, and  now face to face with a giant he was a little scared. He saw Magnus go charging in and knew that there was really no choice in this, they were going to have to kill the beast to get the light. 

 

Lup is yelling and shouting, a huge smile on her face as she shoots off fire spells towards the creature, dodging out of the way of rocks the giant throws. Magnus was going at it with an axe, Taako was shooting off magic missiles, Lucretia using a frost spell to try and freeze it to the ground, Merle was offering support from behind, Davenport was overseeing and trying to sneak up past the giant and grab the light of creation. Barry sucked in a deep breath and ran in a little closer, shooting off a couple spells towards the face of the giant, hoping to distract it long enough for their captain to grab the light. 

 

And he does, he’s small enough that he can run quickly back and avoid the giant, running back towards the ship. It’s not much longer that they finally are able to get the beast down, looting it for what little it had, and heading back to the ship. Davenport had put the light in a glass container that they were given and was just. Looking at it. 

 

They all do for a little bit. This one thing was the single thing that created everything they ever knew and ever will know. It was beautiful. 

 

The crew speed up the ship to get back to Helimire even faster than they had left, it was important that they got the light back as soon as possible, to find out what happens next. They get back and hand over the light to Christopher and the other higher ups who are awestruck, just as they had been when they found the light on that fateful day. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

They celebrate that night and for a few nights after. There’s a feast for the seven and their bravery in recovering the light. There was a ball, dancing, and drinking for almost an entire night. They all spend time with each other before going off and doing their own things, they all dance with one another at least once, laughing through their drunken haze. 

 

That night Barry falls into his bed with a pretty man who probably only is doing this because of who he is and what he did. He’s not there the next morning and Barry can’t seem to care all that much. He lounges in bed, only dressed in a pair of sleep pants. There was warm sunlight streaming through his curtains and the day was so calm and he was so happy. 

 

As his eyes drift close his door opens and two bodies collide with his. Barry yelps and looks up and sees Claudia and Marcello sitting on the edge of his bed, eyes wide and huge smiles on their faces. 

 

“Hello you two, do your parents know you’re here?” he asks, wagging his finger at the two of them. He wasn’t angry, could never be angry at these two. 

 

“Yes! We wanna hear the story of your trip!” Claudia pulls on his pants leg and Marcello, such a quiet child, looks up at him with wide eyes. He sees movement at the door and sees Taako and Lup standing there, smiling. He jerks his head, motioning for them both to come in. And they do. They sit down on either side of Barry and each grab a child, pulling them into their laps. 

 

“You two have to be good and sit still if you want Barold here to tell you the story, it’s a good one, we should know.” Lup says, running her polished fingers through Claudia’s soft hair. Taako squeezes Marcello’s cheeks and blows a raspberry against one after, making the boy squeal with laughter. 

 

“Of course!” Claudia says and turns her attention towards Barry. And Barry, always happy to do anything for these two little ones, begins to tell the story. 

 

It’s simple, Taako and Lup interject with their own comments every once in awhile and he tells them of the long months on board the ship, how boring it got. How  the twins and even Magnus would pull pranks on everyone when they were really bored. How during the few months everyone got sick at least once and everyone cared for one another during that time, that Barry got sick and was sick for the longest out of anyone on the entire crew. 

 

Through the story, the members, come and join them in storytime, all of them telling their own bits of the story to these two children. Merle talking a lot with his hands and speaking loudly. Davenport dipping his head and whispering things like secrets, a smile on his cheerful face. Lucretia told them all of the animals they saw, and showed them the sketches she did of them, Magnus told them of how he had to pull a log off of Merle when they were going back to the ship after getting the light, it having fell on him, not doing a lot of damage, but still hurting him a little bit. 

 

They spend a few hours there, just telling them the story and letting them ask questions. Well, letting Claudia ask, Marcello was quiet and took it all in happily. Soon after, Basil and Christopher come in and grab their children, thanking the seven of them for watching over them for a few hours. And told them how they had time off after this long mission. 

 

“Anything for your family, after all, you’ve done so much for us in the past… Almost ten years.” Lucretia says, smiling up at the two. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Later that evening, Barry is lounging in a chair by the pool, half dozing. It had been a rough almost half a year and he was glad to finally get some time to relax. The sun was shining through the glass ceiling of where the pool was and was warming him up bit by bit. He was content and happy. He sighs softly and realizes something. 

 

It was his birthday. He was 30. Everything had been so hectic and he just forgot for a while. He chuckles to himself.

 

“What are you laughing about Barold.” Lup is standing over him, hands on her hips, dressed in her cute red and orange bathing suit.

 

“Realized that it’s my birthday today.” Lup gasps and puts a hand over her chest, faking shock. 

 

“Today’s almost over Nerd! How do you forget your birthday?” She asks, grabbing another chair and pulling it over to sit on, closer to Barry. He shrugs.

 

“A lot has been happening over the past year. I’m 30 now.” 

 

“Eew, you’re old.” She makes a face then breaks down in laughter.

 

“You’re older than me, elf.” He sits up and shoves her lightly. She falls back on the chair, hands on her stomach as she laughs. 

“I”m just teasin ya.” She sits back up after a moment and grabs Barry’s face in her hands and smushes his face together.  “Birthday boy gets a kiss!”  She then leans in and plants one on him, letting go of his face and putting her hands on his shoulders. Lup pulls back before he can do anything. He’s sitting there, shellshocked, face blood red. He wanted to pull her back in for another, but knew that it was just a friendly, birthday kiss. Made him a little sad. 

 

“Dork.” Is all he can say, dipping his head and rubbing the back of his neck shyly. 

 

“Had no idea you’d act like that from a tiny kiss.” 

 

“Coming from a friend, anything like that makes me like that,” He pokes her cheek. “I just get flustered too easily, you know that.” Lup chuckles and presses her face against his hand.

 

“Yeah I do.” 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  
  


It’s nine months later later, and Barry wakes up one morning with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He waves it off as maybe he was getting sick and went about his day to day business. 

 

The day after that they’re awoken from a message from Lord Christopher and other members of the council, asking the seven of them to report to them in the council room around noon. When they get there, they’re all confused. They’re in their uniforms and then. They’re told what their next mission is. 

 

The seven of them are to pilot a ship and research and explore the other worlds, other realities for a good long time. They don’t have to, but because they were the seven to retrieve the light of creation, the council wants them to do this mission. They tell them that they’re the best they have and that they know they can do this easily. 

 

So they plan. They plan for three long months and then they’re standing in front of an even bigger room of people, so different to the almost 300 people from what seems like so long ago. Now there’s nearly over 1000, and Barry can’t believe that they were chosen for this mission. There’s a video that played, that explains what they’re doing, what the light of creation is. They answer press questions and Barry probably over does it, he’s so nervous. He hears Lup’s ‘Nerd alert!’ from where he’s standing and he flushes and makes his way back to his seat. 

 

They spend one more night with others, they go to a sleezy tavern and the twins steal some stuff, Barry watches Lucretia write in her journals, watching over everyone. 

 

____________________________________________________________________________

Then. The next day dawns. And they’re on the deck of the Starblaster, the biggest ship any of them have ever been on, metal, rather than wood. And they’re taking off and the seven of them are watching everyone who’s watching them blast off. But he can’t shake the feeling that’s in the pit of his stomach that he’s had for the past three months. 

 

In the distance there’s a motionless storm and Barry can’t concentrate on the crowd below who are waving them off, who are also semi-focusing on the storm as well. But he focuses on them and the mission ahead, how he’s also excited. 

 

Davenport flies them up, and up, and up, farther than any of them have ever gone in their lives and they’re past the stars now. But as soon as they’re out of the prime material plane, they get so scared. 

 

They see something reaching down into their world, dark tendrils going around their ship and into their world, their home. Davenport maneuvers through it as best as he can while also trying to contact anyone at the institute through stones of farspeach that were tuned to mission control. Then he tries the earrings Christopher gave them years ago, and still nothing happens. 

 

“We’re escaping! There’s nothing we can do, we have to get out of here until it dies down!” Davenport says and jerks the wheel to keep them from colliding with another mass. 

 

Where they are is different and none of them know what’s going on, and Barry watches their home get destroyed. He shouts and shouts and hears his friends yelling as well. 

 

They then see their own bodies, projecting from themselves, all on the Starblaster deck and things are so strange, and so scary, he just wants it all to end, to be back home where things are safe and where their friends are. 

 

After some time they finally go back into the prime material plane and set down, that 13th plane was gone when they started their decent and they thought it was safe to finally go back down. But. As soon as they touch down, all seven of them know, that this isn’t there home. It’s nowhere near the same and they’re horrified and scared and they don’t know what’s going on. 

 

This is not the same reality.

 

They all stand on the deck, not knowing what the next century, and the next decade after that, has in store for all of them. 

 

But this is the beginning of what might be the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to the blupjeans discord who really helped me along, who were driving factors of this fic weather you all know it or not. 
> 
> Shout out for the DnD group I run, Spirit of Helimire for letting me use your characters for the story, you all are my faves.
> 
> Come yell at my about taz and anything else on tumblr @LitchBarry or my twitter that's the same.
> 
> If you want to request something, I'm totally up for it, I've got to finish a request from months ago that I still have sitting in my askbox, sorry about that.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I jumped the gun with bringing in Lup and Taako, I honestly just couldn't resist. And I'll probably be doing it with other members of the IPRE as well, if I get ages wrong later on I'm sorry, it's not my best thing. 
> 
> Any questions and all that message me on tumblr @ LitchBarry


End file.
